Ira Brand

Break Yourself

“The thing I like about Springsteen is that all his songs are about blue-collar, American, working class, men. You know, men who work on the railroads, and in lumberyards. Real men. I’m not really that kind of guy.”

Meet Ollie. He’s a graphic designer. But he wants to be Bruce.

Break Yourself is a piece about the performance of identity and of gender. Performed in male drag, it is about the relationship between power and desire, the complex landscape of male and female sexual desire, and the desire to be something ‘other’. And it’s about Bruce Springsteen.

It is also an experiment in constructing personas and alternative identities. A risky, dishonest, head-first, whole-hearted, and perhaps slightly desperate attempt to try and be something we have never been before.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Commissioned by Ovalhouse. Supported by The Yard Theatre.

Ira is an artist, performance-maker and writer. She works across theatre and live art, creating live performances that are rooted in a fascination with what it means and feels like to be human. Her shows are visceral, funny and tender attempts to explore often vast contemporary topics in a way that celebrates both personal and collective experience.

Ira regularly works in collaboration with other companies and artists, most recently Made In China (Gym Party) and Andy Field (put your sweet hand in mine). She co-runs Forest Fringe with Andy Field and Deborah Pearson.

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